Just for a Lark
by TornadoAlli
Summary: A humorous adventure into the forbidden forest with the Weasley twins and a few crazy girls from Hogwarts. Plenty of crazy twists, ups, downs, u-turns and the whole bit.
1. Chapter 1 A New Adventure

Alli walked out of her divination class muttering something that sounded like witch describing Professor Trelawney. A fairly tall young girl with tan skin, long brown hair and eyes so dark they almost looked black she tended to stick out. It wasn't particularly the way she looked, it was more the way her robes and hair always seemed to be floating even without any wind nearby. She was so wrapped up in her anger over Trelawney's ranting on all class about how she would be attacked by an evil butterfly that she ran smack into Fred Weasley.  
  
"Whoa there Alli, don't wanna go knockin over witches and wizards left and right." Fred said as he helped pick up the spilled books Alli had been carrying.  
  
"Yeah, you should really leave that to Slytherin." George added as he handed Alli her dropped quill.  
  
"Sorry guys, but you know how she is," Alli said motioning up towards Trelawney's room, "it's all doom this and gloom that and whoo I see your death every ding dong day! I think Tess was so right about her, if you know what I mean." Fred and George laughed as they fell into step alongside Alli as they made their way down the stairs. "Anyways, uh, wait weren't you guys headed up the tower?"  
  
"Actually no, we were just looking for you." Fred admitted.  
  
"Me?" Alli grinned mischievously "Ooo, what are you guys up to now? Got a new plan going down?"  
  
"Don't we always?" George said as he broke into a big grin.  
  
"You know we only turn to you when it's a good one Alli, and we think we may need your help." Fred said getting a bit unusually serious.  
  
"Alright, something tells me it's got something to do with the forest then? Because it's either that or the dungeons, that's as far as my rule breaking expertise goes, and I doubt you guys are that interested in our dungeons.unless." Alli stopped and gave the twins a quizzical look.  
  
"No! No! Nothing to do with the dungeons!" The twins said nervously.  
  
"Alright then, enlighten me with the plan!" Alli said continuing down the stairs with the twins.  
  
Fred cleared his throat while George looked around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear them. "Alright, well we know you know the forbidden forest better than we do and you also know a good bit about fairies."  
  
"Oh, you're making me blush!" Alli said waving her hand. "I don't know nearly as much about the forest as Hagrid though."  
  
"Well, I don't think Hagrid would be too willing to aid us in our plan though." George said.  
  
"Right, right, but what makes you think I know so much about fairies though?" Alli asked.  
  
"Well, you actually paid attention when they talked about them." Fred shrugged.  
  
"Ah, of course." Alli nodded.  
  
"So what do you know about fairy rings?" George asked.  
  
"Well, that if you have the luck to find them they can make wishes come true, but don't go stumbling upon them while the fairies are in the midst of dancing."  
  
"Why?" George asked looking puzzled.  
  
"Well, supposedly you'll be compelled to dance to the point of exhaustion, that can't be good--especially in the forbidden forest."  
  
"Right, good to know." Fred said with his brow furrowed. They walked on a bit in silence both Fred and George had their eyes on the floor lost in thought. It was Alli that finally interrupted the silence by clearing her throat. "Oh, sorry, right.ok, well we need to find a fairy ring, but we want to do it while they're celebrating." Fred whispered.  
  
"Hmm.may I ask why?"  
  
"Well, of course you can but we can't tell you." George grinned.  
  
Alli turned to George and in mock anger said: "What? You're not gonna let me in on why? The audacity! The.the.oh screw it, so when do you plan on going?"  
  
"Well, we hope to go tonight seeing as it's the full moon."  
  
"Ah yes, the full moon always with the fullness. Alright, now these fairies- -"  
  
"Hey dude, we gotta go, Tess needs us in the dungeons." Shea interrupted Alli pulling her towards the stairs.  
  
"I-but, dungeons?" Alli said looking between Shea and the bewildered looking twins. "I'll catch you guys later, ok?"  
  
"Er.sure, we'll see you in the great hall for dinner?"  
  
"Yeah see you then" Alli shouted over her shoulder as Shea began to drag her down the stairs.  
  
"Viggo's causing trouble again." Shea said as they spiraled down into the depths of the castle. Shea was easily the tallest girl at Hogwarts, with very light brown hair and eyes that, well, no one could ever really tell what color her eyes were. She was very thin but surprisingly strong evidence being her grip on Alli's arm.  
  
"Didn't Tess get the special chains from Knockturn Alley we saw in the catalog?"  
  
"Not yet, we think the owl got lost in that storm yesterday. Plus, I'm sure those chains were pretty heavy and that couldn't have helped. So what were the twins talking to you about?"  
  
"Oh, well, I don't know if I can tell you, but you are Shea, so I'll go ahead. They want to find a fairy ring tonight--though they wont tell me why."  
  
"Whoa, that's kinda dangerous--you told them that right?"  
  
"Well, yeah I told them what happens if they interrupt the fairies dancing, but I figure as long as one of them stays far enough away they can rescue the other."  
  
"Well, yeah but the fairies can lure them deeper into the forest too."  
  
"No dude, that's elves."  
  
"Nu-uh!"  
  
"Uh.yuh-huh!"  
  
"Ch.whatever dude."  
  
The two finally reached the door to their special dungeon, it had been their plan since the day the three met at Hogwarts. Alli and Shea had been friends long before Hogwarts, finding their similar personalities mixed very well. Both were very intelligent but somehow always managed to be very forgetful. When they had arrived at Hogwarts and gotten sorted into Gryffindor together they had sat next to a fellow first year named Tess. She was a bit shorter than the other too with brown hair and crinkled brown eyes hidden behind glasses. As happens with most adolescent girls the topic eventually turned to boys and somehow in the midst of ranting and raving about how cute so-and-so was the concept for the dungeons was born. It took years of planning and creating, figuring out how to seal the dungeon, or how to make their pictures and posters come to life on the walls, but they had their charmed dungeons with boy toys at last. They could already hear Tess and Viggo arguing: "I have things to do you know! You can't keep me chained up forever!" they heard Viggo shout.  
  
"Oh don't tempt me dear Viggo!" Tess calmly replied. "Ah, finally I got some backup!" She said standing up as she saw Alli and Shea enter the cool dark dungeon. "Did I miss anything in Trelawney's class?"  
  
Alli snorted and said: "Oh yeah, it was a real riveting class, only three people fell asleep today and she predicted five new ways to get brutally scarred for life."  
  
"Oh really, and what were they?" Tess said closing and locking the door behind Alli and Shea.  
  
"Oh um.a psychotic evil butterfly, an enchanted dustbin, a raging duck billed platypus.and I think I was dozing during the rest. Man, she's really gotta get some new material, she's not even instilling fear into the suckers in the class anymore!" Alli said as she turned to give Sean and Christian a smile.  
  
"Aw, that's a shame." Shea said as she checked Alan's chains. "Can a duck billed platypus really rage though?"  
  
"I don't think it matters Shea." Tess said stretching.  
  
"Hey, by the by, where were you Shea? I can't believe you guys left me alone with her! Without you two to hold me back who knows what I would've done to her.she could really use some antlers." Alli said gazing off into space.  
  
"Dude, sorry but I fell asleep in the library again." Shea said apologetically.  
  
"Man, maybe you should just stop reading those boring books of yours over and over again in the library during breaks." Alli said.  
  
"Hey, just because I wanna be something cool there's no need to be jealous." Shea shot back.  
  
"Dude, we can go to space anytime we want, why do you wanna help those muggles do it the hard way?" Alli questioned.  
  
"Spaceships are fascinating muggle contraptions, it would be fun to build one! Not to mention that organization they have.er.NASA I think it is, they got monkeys!"  
  
"Are they of the flying variety?" Alli asked raising an eyebrow.  
  
They were interrupted suddenly by Viggo clearing his throat and saying: "Well, as much as I hate to interrupt this riveting conversation, I'd really like to talk about why I'm here if you would just answer my questions!"  
  
All three of them looked at him for a moment with raised eyebrows then burst into laughter simultaneously.  
  
"I told you not to ask." Alan said in a sing-song I-told-you-so voice.  
  
When the girls finally recovered from their fit of giggles Alli said: "Well, what should we do with him?" Looking Viggo up and down, "I mean, just for now so we can all go get some grub because I'm absolutely starving!"  
  
Tess sighed and said: "Well, the best we can do now is just chain and gag." So with a lazy flick of her wand and a few nicely chosen words Viggo was re- chained and silent with a mixed look of terror and confusion on his face.  
  
"Aw, he doesn't look too happy Tess you better give him the charm." Shea suggested.  
  
"Hey, if he gets the charm we all get the charm!" Christian said.  
  
"Oh of course my little love kitten, we wouldn't think of giving one of you the charm and not the rest!" Alli said in baby talk while caressing Christian's face. "Unless you've been naughty.you haven't have you?" She asked raising an eyebrow hopefully.  
  
Christian smiled back at Alli and said: "Naughty? When you've got me chained up in your wonderful dungeons? I wouldn't dream of it!"  
  
Alli smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek, then turning to Shea said: "Shall we go then?"  
  
"Wait up a minute guys, I still need you're help with re-ordering the chains!" Tess interjected, "and I don't wanna have to do all the charms myself!"  
  
"Alright alright" Alli and Shea grumbled as they turned back around and swished and flicked their wands saying the right words to disperse the charms amongst the guys on the walls. At once all their expressions turned to one of bliss as big grins crept upon their faces. "Well then, what about these re-orderings?" Alli asked turning to Tess.  
  
"Well, do we want to re-order them? Or do you think we should just write the shop?" Tess asked.  
  
"I say we just wait, the owl should get here eventually, I don't wanna waste another 3 sickles! Plus I think the owls are getting suspicious, we should really get our own." Shea said.  
  
"Well, Alli wont let us use Artemis." Tess said shooting Alli a look.  
  
"I will not have her doing grunt work!" Alli said defiantly.  
  
"You call our business grunt work?" Tess asked eyes widening.  
  
"I'm sure she'd be grunting if she had to lug chains to us."  
  
"Good point." She nodded.  
  
"Anyways, I'm with Shea, I mean sure we'll have to wait a bit longer and keep constant tabs on Viggo until he's learned his lesson," Alli said as she shot Viggo a look "but this way we get to shut up about all this and go eat!"  
  
Tess shrugged and headed toward the door and said: "Sounds good to me, you boys be good now!" She added looking over her shoulder as she opened the door. The three girls wound their way up the stairs and talked about their plans for the dungeons all the while. Shea was the one who reminded Alli of her earlier encounter with the twins as the girls neared the Great Hall asking what Alli thought the twins were up to.  
  
"I don't know, but it sure sounds like fun!" Alli said grinning. 


	2. Chapter 2 Minions

Alli, Shea and Tess entered the Great Hall and made their way over to the Gryffindor table and sat down happily helping themselves to the food on the golden plates. While they were still eating Fred and George spotted Alli down the table and made their way over to her.  
  
"Ok, so do you think we'll be alright if we know not to partake in the dancing?" Fred said in a hushed voice as he sat down.  
  
Alli turned and gave Fred a puzzled look for a moment before realizing what they were talking about then said "Oh, welff ovff cousfze ive uel ete mae gew tooh!" she mumbled through the food in her mouth.  
  
"Er.come again?" George said as Fred tried desperately to stifle his laughter.  
  
Alli swallowed her food and said again: "I said, of course if you let me go too." Fred and George looked at her skeptically. "Come on, it's the only way you'll be completely safe, I know the way to save you from dancing to the point of exhaustion, plus it sounds like a lot of fun!"  
  
"Ah, rule breaking always is." Fred said as a misty look came over his eyes and a grin spread across his face.  
  
"Alright, you can come, but you can't tell anybody." George warned her.  
  
Alli looked at the twins with an eyebrow raised and said: "You seriously think I'd go tattle taleing on you two!? What, do you know nothing about our dungeons?"  
  
Fred and George grinned and said, "Yeah, we should've known better."  
  
"Oh yeah you should've, I'm hurt now! Thinking I'd go ratting out the infamous Weasley twins! What do you think of me? Anyways, I could use a new adventure it's getting a tad boring around here, we need to liven it up."  
  
"Indeed we do!" Fred agreed, "Alright, so we'll meet in the common room at half past 11, sound good?"  
  
"Sure sure, I'll see you two then" Alli said grinning at the two and picking her fork back up to resume digging in.  
  
"So?" Shea asked in a hushed voice.  
  
"So...?" Alli said with raised eyebrows.  
  
"So, what's going down?"  
  
"Oh, we're just gonna go into the forest tonight." Alli responded casually.  
  
"Ooo! Can I come?!"  
  
"Well, I'll probably have to ask Fred and George.but sure why not?" Alli said helping herself to some dessert. "Hey Tess you don't mind looking after the dungeons do you?"  
  
"Oh the horror to be stuck with such a job! Of course I don't mind doofus!"  
  
"Hmm.doofus, that's a good one, we haven't heard that for a good many years." Shea said.  
  
"More like a good many days Shea, you called me that last week."  
  
"I did not!" Shea said indignantly. "I called you a dorkus malorkis."  
  
"You did not!" Alli shot back, "I called you that!"  
  
"Ch, whatever dude."  
  
Tess chuckled as she stood up and stretched. "Well, I think I'll head back down to the dungeons and check on everything and then I'll meet you guys in the common room."  
  
Shea sighed and said: "I'm so sick of studying!" Stabbing her dessert with her fork.  
  
"Don't abuse your desert like that!" Alli said "Sounds good Tess, tell the boys we'll miss them tonight, but finals call."  
  
"Alrighty, see you guys later then." Tess said and then strolled out of the great hall humming the hamster dance song.  
  
"Aw, man she's gonna get that song stuck in my head again!" Shea said as she stabbed her desert again.  
  
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to abuse your food?"  
  
"Hey, speaking of my mother you know that owl I got from her this morning?"  
  
Alli laughed and nearly choked on her desert, after a few minutes of coughing, attempting to wash it down with her milk and Shea laughing and pointing she finally managed to get out: "Oh don't help me or anything!"  
  
"What should I have done? I don't know that hiemlich thing."  
  
"You do have a wand you know!"  
  
"I'm sorry I must have missed Flitwick's lecture on anti choking charms."  
  
"I've had enough anyways," Alli said glaring at her food, "let's head back up to the common room." The two girls got up from the table and started walking up the stairs behind two slytherin boys. Alli began to talk about what they had to study tonight when one of the boys turned around to see who they were and then turned to his companion with a smirk and whispered in his ear. The two boys stepped off to the side and stopped to let Alli and Shea pass.  
  
"Well, if it isn't the mudblood and the dungeon freak." The boy with the dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes said.  
  
Alli and Shea stopped and looked at the two with bemused expressions on their face. "Is that seriously the best you can come up with?" Alli said.  
  
"Oh we can do much much worse." The second boy with blue tipped hair and black-brown eyes said as he stepped forward his wand in hand. Immediately Alli and Shea had whipped their wands out.  
  
"I wouldn't try anything if I were you." Shea said.  
  
"Yeah, we can be very.creative." Alli said with a smirk. For a minute or two the four just glared at each other wands aimed at chests, then suddenly Alli started humming the hamster dance song and soon Shea joined in. "I told you she'd get it stuck in our heads again." Alli said.  
  
"Dude, I told you she'd get it stuck in my head again, can't you remember anything?"  
  
"Excuse? I remember everything! Just like those.oh what are they called, you know those animals that apparently remember everything.hippogriffs? No, that doesn't sound right."  
  
Shea just rolled her eyes and said: "You are such a nerd."  
  
"I don't deny it." Alli said back. The girls then remembered why they had their wands out and looked back to see the two boys scurrying down the stairs muttering something about madness. "Wow, that was much easier than usual, too bad I was looking forward to having some new hampster minions."  
  
"Really? I was thinking of making that blue haired one a mouse, we could've nicknamed him Clark."  
  
"Clark?"  
  
"Yeah, that hair color of his kinda reminded me of that blue underwear superman wears."  
  
Alli just shook her head and said: "Shea, sometimes your randomness takes even me by surprise."  
  
"Well, look who's talking! Aren't you the one that went on and on about some plate?"  
  
"Dude, don't diss the plate! Especially when you were the one who sent me that owl all about the tap dancing muggles! Supercallifragiloustiexpeallidocious." Alli said and the portrait swung open revealing a crowded common room full of gryffindors huddled over their books and papers. "Tess must still be occupied in the dungeons." Shea said gazing around the room.  
  
"Quick observation Sherlock, now let's get to studying so we can talk about how much fun we're gonna have tonight."  
  
"I'm really more of a Watson than a Sherlock."  
  
"Whatever you say dude." Alli said as she dug around her bag for some spare parchment. The two girls settled down into comfy maroon chairs fairly close to the roaring fire and began to make new notes and scour their old ones for needed information as they mumbled and grumbled about the cruelty of finals. After about 40 minutes, Tess strolled up to them with a giant grin across her face and gratefully interrupted them. "Good time?" Alli asked with a smirk.  
  
"Oh yes, that Alan can do wonderful things you know." Tess said slumping down in a chair and gazing up at the ceiling.  
  
"Shh!" Shea said with a finger to her lips, "There are innocent young minds trying to study in here." She added looking around the room to see if anyone had overheard.  
  
"Think you're too dazed to help us try and figure out this potions stuff?" Alli said looking at her scribbled notes.  
  
Tess sighed as she finally tore her eyes from the ceiling to look at the books and parchment spread across the table. "Fine, bring me back to face stupid reality."  
  
"It's not my choice, I blame whoever came up with this notion of finals, I say we hunt them down chain them up in our dungeons and do the bad kind of torture."  
  
"Good plan dude, though I'm sure they're probably dead by now." Shea said as she struggled to make out her notes.  
  
"Don't ruin the idea Shea, you're just jealous you didn't think of it first."  
  
"Well, if you're gonna do that you should probably include those creators of that muggle math, now that's just cruel." Shea said giving up on her notes.  
  
"Guys, how bout we just get the studying out of the way so I can get back to the dungeons and you guys can get ready to go on your..er.mission."  
  
"Right, right, good idea." Alli said picking up her notes again. For the rest of the night the three girls poured over their books and notes struggling to remember everything and resisting the temptation to be distracted by their dungeons. Finally at 11 they rubbed their eyes and started to put their books away acknowledging that they had shoved everything they possibly could in their brains for that night. They all stood up and stretched and then climbed the stairs to their room to put all their books away and grab their invisibility cloak. The three girls had always shared the cloak, it had been the idea of Alli to get it in their third year when they were still working on the ideas for their dungeons. They realized it would be entirely too risky to roam around Hogwarts at all hours of the night to check on their dungeons. Alli had heard about them before so they spent the rest of that year saving up and tracking down a place to buy one. Finally at the beginning of their fourth year they were successful and the plans with their dungeons and all other mischief could continue. After they had put all their books away, tucked the invisibility cloak safely under Alli's robes and grabbed some chocolate frogs for later they headed back down the stairs to the common room. As they stepped back into the now deserted common room Alli turned to Tess and said: "You think you can make it to the dungeons without the cloak tonight?"  
  
"Yeah, I got Mickey" Tess said grinning as she pulled a black and white hamster out of her pocket.  
  
Alli giggled and said: "Well, good luck then and have fun tonight!"  
  
"Oh don't worry, I will!" Tess said grinning even more broadly "You guys have some fun too!" She added as she swung open the portrait and sneaked quietly out into the hall.  
  
Alli and Shea sat themselves down into two comfy chairs by the fire chatting about their plans for the upcoming summer as they awaited Fred and George and the start of their late night adventure. 


	3. Chapter 3 The Hula

Fred and George came ambling down the stairs from their room slinging their backpacks over their shoulders. "Sorry we're late, we had to borrow something from Harry." George said as they approached Alli and Shea.  
  
"Not a problem," Alli said as she stood up and stretched "we were just plotting out our summer."  
  
"Good old plotting. So what do you guys got in the bags?" Shea asked eyeing their backpacks curiously.  
  
"Oh, just some.er.essentials." Fred said with a slight smile.  
  
"So we have a plan on how to get down to the forest." George said quickly changing the subject as Shea and Alli suspiciously eyed the bags. "We think you guys should head down first, if that's alright?"  
  
"Well, yeah sure we have a way to make it down without being noticed, but what about you guys?"  
  
"Oh don't worry about us, we got some friends." Fred said patting his pocket that had some parchment sticking out.  
  
Alli just raised an eyebrow and said: "Well, alright then, but why do you want us to go down first?"  
  
"Well, we thought it would be just you Alli, but it'll actually be easier since there's two of you now. We need you to get a pumpkin from the back of Hagrid's hut and put it in the shade of the trees from the forest before midnight. We'd do it, but our friend hasn't finished a certain potion we need just yet." George said in an unusually straightforward manner.  
  
"Wow, you guys sure are doing something serious here, sure you don't wanna let us in on the joke?" Alli asked.  
  
"Not just yet, you guys should really get going." Fred said glancing out the window.  
  
Shea looked at her watch as well and said: "Yeah, we really should, Hagrid's pumpkins can be pretty heavy. We'll meet you guys down there." With that Alli and Shea snuck quietly through the portrait hole and pulled out the invisibility cloak. After making sure it completely covered the two of them, which was getting harder and harder through the years the taller they got, they began to quietly make their way out of the castle. As they were passing the great hall Alli suddenly remembered something from earlier.  
  
"Hey," she whispered "weren't you saying something about that.er", she tried desperately to stifle her giggling, "...owl your mom sent you?" Earlier that day as Alli, Shea and Tess had been picking at their breakfast and grumbling about the cruelty of mornings, the usual mass of owls had flown in and one particularly large one had swooped down and landed in front of Shea. At once Alli and Tess had started giggling at it, for it was a funny shade of orange and it's feathers stuck out at odd angles everywhere. Then, all of a sudden, as soon as it had dropped the letter out of its beak it began to walk down the length of the table flapping its wings and thrusting it's head like a chicken. Alli and Tess roared with laughter and nearly fell off their seats as Shea tried desperately to stop the crazy owl as it spilled juice left and right making weird clucking noises. Shea's mother had been notorious for sending the strangest owls anyone had ever seen, she was a muggle and it was a complete mystery to the girls just where she even found owls.  
  
Shea finally interrupted Alli's memory of that morning by whispering back: "Oh yeah, I'll tell you when we're outside." The girls looked around to check if anyone or anything was lurking anywhere nearby before they gently creaked the huge front doors open and slipped outside into the cool night air. "What time is it?" Alli asked Shea as they started to make their way toward the back of Hagrid's hut.  
  
"11:49," Shea said looking at her now glowing watch, "we better hurry it up."  
  
"Heh, good thing you finally got rid of that Hello Kitty watch that kept breaking."  
  
"Hey, there's no need to speak ill of the deceased watch! I still don't trust this newfangled one anyway, entirely too complicated." Alli just shook her head and smiled. The two girls hurried to the pumpkin patch behind Hagrids hut and quickly picked up the first pumpkin they saw.  
  
As they were lugging the larger than normal pumpkin towards the forest, huffing and puffing, Alli asked: "Hey..how..did..you..." paused for a bit more huffing and puffing "know..that Hagrid's..pumpkins would..be heavy?"  
  
Shea nearly dropped the pumpkin as she gave Alli a completely confused look. "What....are....you....talking...about?"  
  
Alli waited till they had set the pumpkin down in the shade of the closest tree and thrown off the invisibility cloak until she answered: "Just before we left the common room you said that Hagrid's pumpkins can be pretty heavy, how did you know that?"  
  
Shea just gave Alli an odd look and said "Your mind really works in weird ways dude, you're just now thinking of this?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, so tell me, were you the guilty culprit of that pumpkin incident last year?" Alli asked giving Shea a penetrating look.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about." Shea responded deliberately avoiding Alli's eyes. "I could've just guesstimated the weightiness of the pumpkins!"  
  
"Wow, Shea, I never would've thought you had it in you."  
  
"What? I'm not always just some dork who merely sits in the library with her nose in books all the time you know, I have a bad side, and I am perfectly capable for exacting revenge on some jerk who called me a bad name!"  
  
"Ah-ha! I knew it was you."  
  
Shea let her mouth hang open for a minute realizing what she had confessed to and simply muttered: "Well, it took you long enough."  
  
Alli just laughed and said: "That was pure genius dude, I mean an enchanted pumpkin pie that makes you do the hula every time someone says the word "it"? Madam Pomfrey had no idea what to do with him!" The two girls giggled over the memory of the oversized slytherin boy with shaggy black hair, that had teased Shea incessantly last year, doing a very bad hula dance in the middle of the halls with a befuddled look on his face as he sang "Aloha oy..aloha oy.."  
  
"Well, he never came near me again now did he?" Shea said as her giggles finally subsided. After a couple more minutes the girls finally saw Fred and George emerge from the castle thanks to the bright light of the full moon. They were huddled over a piece of parchment, but then they looked up and saw Alli and Shea wave and Fred stuffed the parchment in his pocket. They hurried over to the girls both of them carrying a small bottle, one filled with grayish liquid and the other full of a bright pink liquid.  
  
"Alright, you guys got the pumpkin?"  
  
"Yup," Alli said tapping the pumpkin with her foot, "what you got in those bottles?"  
  
"Oh we'll explain that on the way." Fred said with a sly grin as George stepped into the shadows and picked up the pumpkin.  
  
"Well, best be off then," George said groaning with the weight of the pumkin. Then he turned to make his way to the main path in the forest and the others followed him swatting bugs away and grumbling at snagging branches. After they had gotten fairly deep into the forest they all pulled out their wands and muttered Lumos. Fred and George led the way whispering to each other as Shea and Alli fell into step behind them.  
  
"So are you gonna tell me what the letter your mom sent you was about?" Alli asked.  
  
"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting, it's nothing major, she just went on and on about the same ole stuff but then near the end she talked about this dinner party she and my dad went to. Apparently there was this really religious stuck up type there and during dessert she was talking about how her daughter had turned out to be a witch and how she believed it was completely satanic and evil and wanted to disown her."  
  
"What???" Alli nearly shouted.  
  
"I know! I laughed when I read it in the library; Madam Pince gave me the evilest eye you've ever seen! Anyways, apparently her daughter goes here and she keeps writing her mum trying to tell her about Hogwarts and how it's not evil. My mom said the woman told her she actually saw the robes her daughter had and screamed and ran out of the room claiming the devil resided in the linings!" Alli and Shea lost themselves in giggles at the ridiculous notion of this. "Oh! Also, she saw a picture of Dumbledore in a wizard card when she was cleaning her daughter's room last summer and tried to burn it because she thought it was satan trying to lure her into the card and commit evil deeds!" The girls continued to giggle until Fred turned around and asked them what the joke was.  
  
"Oh, we'll explain later."Alli said giving the twins an imitation of the sly look they had been giving her whenever she asked them questions. All of a sudden something stirred in the bushes just ahead on the right side and the four of them all jumped. George began to approach the bush tentatively with his wand.  
  
"Are you mad?" Shea said pulling him back "Didn't you hear about that cat and the curiosity that was the end of it? Let's just keep going and make sure our eyes are peeled." So the four of them trudged on deeper into the forest huddled close together. As soon as Fred and George had started whispering secretively to each other again Alli turned to Shea and asked: "Ok, so what was that all about?"  
  
"What are you talking about?" Shea asked looking puzzled.  
  
"Dude, curiosity has killed you plenty of times! I mean let's not forget that incident in potions last year! You nearly melted Tess! I can't decide if I was more surprised that you weren't the first to start approaching the bush or that you stopped Fred."  
  
"George."  
  
"That's what I said."  
  
"No you didn't you-"  
  
"Moving on, answer my question!"  
  
Shea sighed and looked around as if expecting someone to be lurking behind a tree eavesdropping then finally whispered: "I didn't want to tell you but a while back when we first lit our wands, I caught a glimpse of something."  
  
"What? Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"I'm getting to that if you could keep your mouth shut long enough!"  
  
"Sorry, continue." Alli bowed her head closer to listen.  
  
"Well, right before we said Lumos I was looking back again to make sure we were deep enough into the forest so Hagrid or anyone else wouldn't see the lights." Alli just nodded her head urging Shea to continue, "Alright well my head was still looking off to the side when I said Lumos and I swear I caught a glimpse of something.it looked like.like." Alli raised her eyebrows in impatience, "like Shelia."  
  
"Who's Shelia?" Fred asked startling Alli and Shea so much they jumped nearly a mile high.  
  
Alli sputtered for a few seconds before finally getting out: "Don't do that!"  
  
"Do what?" George asked innocently.  
  
"Scare us like that." Shea said her hand still over her rapidly beating heart.  
  
"Oh well we swear we wont scare you like that again, so just tell us who's Shelia and why was she, or possibly he-" "Don't forget the possibility of it." George added interrupting Fred. "--shaking that bush back there?" Fred finished.  
  
Alli crossed her arms and defiantly said: "We're not telling you anything until you confess those little secrets of yours."  
  
"Oh, and another thing for that matter, how do you guys even know where your going? For all we know you could be leading us into a death trap."  
  
"We-we, well, we don't want to tell you just yet." George said.  
  
"Fine." Alli said.  
  
"Fine." Fred said back. For the next couple of minutes the four just stood there staring defiantly at each other until all of a sudden a snow white rabbit hopped in between the four and stared up at each of them. At first the four weren't even aware that such a thing had happened until:  
  
"Oh get over yourselves." A voice with an Australian accent suddenly said. They all jumped and looked down at the source of the voice, the white rabbit. Shea and Alli backed up against a tree glaring at the rabbit. 


End file.
